Frank Cicero Jr. was a longtime litigator and partner at the Kirkland & Ellis law firm who played a major role in the drafting of Illinois’ current constitution in 1970 and who later wrote several history books.
“If there’s one thing that stands out about Frank beyond anything else, it’s that he was meticulous in preparation — no stone was left unturned in his research,” said former Chicago Ald. Bill Singer, who later became a partner at Kirkland & Ellis. “He was driven by a passion for excellence and a passion for (doing) the right thing.”
Cicero, 88, died of complications of urothelial carcinoma, or bladder cancer, at his Evanston home on Feb. 25, said his daughter, Caroline. An Evanston resident since 1965, Cicero also had battled skin cancer and leukemia for many years.
Born in Chicago, Cicero moved with his family to La Grange Park in 1945, and then to Westchester the following year and to Western Springs in 1949. After graduating from Lyons Township High School, Cicero first attended Amherst College. He then transferred to Wheaton College, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 1957.
Cicero earned a master’s degree in public administration from Princeton University in 1962 and a law degree from the University of Chicago in 1965.
After law school, Cicero took a job at Kirkland & Ellis, and he rose to become a partner with the firm in 1970. Cicero specialized in complicated cases, including representing Chicago-based Amoco Corp. in the aftermath of an oil spill after the Amoco Cadiz crude oil carrier sank off the coast of France in 1978, polluting 190 miles of shoreline. The spill produced more than a decade of litigation in federal court and a large fine that Amoco was ordered to pay to the French government, although Cicero had argued in court that Amoco had gotten a judgment against the Spanish company that had built the Amoco Cadiz, which held that company responsible for damages.
In 1975, Cicero represented a group of Black Chicago police officers, known at that time as the Afro-American Patrolmen’s League, which had contended that police officials had attempted to silence the group’s charges of discriminatory practices. The league had sued the Chicago Police Department in federal court, and a federal judge had found that Police Department tests indeed were biased against Blacks, Latinos and women. Ultimately, a federal judge required the Police Department to pursue hiring goals until the police force’s female and minority representation more accurately reflected that of the general population.
“Frank’s interests in the law were wide-ranging. There was no case he could not try well, and no challenge he could not overcome,” said Richard Godfrey, a retired Kirkland & Ellis partner and leader and a longtime friend. “One of the first matters I worked with him on arose out of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 and the loss of assets by various clients in Iran. This led to one of the first arbitrations before the Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal, at the Peace Palace in the Hague, in the Netherlands in the summer of 1983, involving Frank’s client, the Skidmore, Owings & Merrill architectural firm, against the Islamic Republic of Iran. Frank was brilliant, precise and in his own subtle, soft-spoken manner in control of the proceedings. His performance was dazzling, and as a result, the outcome was never in doubt.”
Godfrey said Cicero taught him and others “how to be a trial lawyer in the truest sense, but what it means to be a professional in the broadest sense.”
“He had integrity, and his word was his bond,” Godfrey said.
Cicero also represented a former Wheaton College classmate, former U.S. Rep. Jim McDermott, after the U.S. House Ethics Committee investigated McDermott for sharing an illegally recorded telephone conversation involving onetime House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former House Speaker John Boehner. In federal court, Boehner had sued McDermott as a private citizen, demanding damages for alleged violations of his First Amendment rights.
A federal court in Washington concluded that news organizations that had published the contents of the tape were not liable for sharing what was on the tape, although a lower court later fined McDermott for sharing the tape with news outlets, citing a lack of compliance with House ethics rules.
“He was a fabulous attorney,” McDermott said. “Frank was my defense attorney for 11 years. We protected the right of the press to publish under the rules.”
Cicero stepped back from work at Kirkland & Ellis when he turned 65 years old, but he remained affiliated with the firm for many years afterward.
Always interested in politics, Cicero volunteered for Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 presidential campaign and was a delegate at the Democratic National Convention in 1972. In 1969, he ran for and won a seat as a Democratic delegate to the state’s 1970 constitutional convention, despite representing a heavily Republican area.
An independent Democrat, Cicero helped to write the current state constitution, and among his primary areas of concern was the environment.
“The new state constitution should strongly enunciate a policy in favor of conservation of our natural resources,” Cicero wrote in a letter to the Tribune in September 1969.
By a comfortable margin, voters approved the new constitution in December 1970.
Cicero’s work on the state constitution helped to form the foundation of a book he wrote in retirement, “Creating the Land of Lincoln: The History and Constitutions of Illinois, 1778-1870.” The University of Illinois Press published the book in 2018.
Cicero also was interested in historic research and enjoyed researching not just the state constitution but also his own Italian American family’s background. He also enjoyed researching his Evanston neighborhood and the historic homes in it, and the changing property and lakefill patterns from Northwestern University’s expansions over the years, his daughter said.
Cicero’s research frequently took him to Chicago’s Newberry Library, where he eventually served on its board of trustees.
“Frank Cicero was endlessly curious about history — the history of his family, his Evanston neighborhood, the state of Illinois, the country and the world,” said former Newberry Library President Daniel Greene. “At the Newberry Library, Frank was an ideal trustee. He used the library’s collections for the books he wrote, and he and (wife) Jan provided generous support for young writers and artists to pursue their own research through the Newberry’s fellowship program. He always wanted to know more and to learn more.”
In 1974, Cicero and his wife bought a house that was originally built for 19th-century photographer Alexander Hesler, who had taken iconic beardless photographs of President Abraham Lincoln.
During retirement, Cicero enjoyed traveling, researching his family history, researching Evanston and researching state history. He wrote and published a 288-page book about his family, “Relative Strangers: Italian Protestants in the Catholic World,” in 2011.
In addition to his daughter, Cicero is survived by his wife of nearly 65 years, Jan; another daughter, Erica; three grandchildren; and a sister, Nancy.
A celebration of life service will take place at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 18, at First Presbyterian Church of Evanston, 1427 Chicago Ave., Evanston. Greetings with the family will begin at 2 p.m. at the church.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
